Unit 9

• Francis Galton

  • Came up with eminence (eugenics)
  • Anthropometrics - measuring the physical and mental difference in humans
  • Measured sensory abilities as an indicator of intelligence
• Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon

  • Saw intelligence as the ability to think, understand, reason, and adapt
  • created mental age (works well for kids)- the average intellectual ability score of a child of a specific age
• Lewis Terman

  • Developed the Stanford-Binet test - is used to measure ones 'genetic' intelligence by incorporating IQ (Mental age / Chronological age * 10)
  • was responsible for setting up the misuse of intelligence testing
• Wechsler adult intelligence test

  • Made specifically for adults
  • Broke up the full IQ
• Ravens' progressive metrics

  • made not to give advantage to specific languages
  • score correlated with WAIS
• Intelligence testing sources of bias

  • Test themselves are culturally bias
  • Tests process is culturally bias
  • Stereotype threat - negative stereotypes about a group causes members to not preform well on test
• Entity theory - thinking that intelligence is not changeable

  Incremental theory - thinking that intelligence is changeable and can be increased
• Grit : a trait made up of

  • Perseverance of effort: working hard despite set backs
  • Consistency of effect: sticking to a goal, even when it seems unattainable
• Spearman thought that intelligence was only one generalized thing being G (general intelligence)
• Savants - people that are really great at one thing but have very little intelligence for anything else

  • typically someone with autism
• Spearman's two factor model

  • G - general intelligence
  • S - Specific-level (skill based)
• Thurstone found 7 primary mental abilities within Spearman's factors
• The hierarchical model of intelligence states that lower level abilities are nested within a general intelligence (like a folder being inside another folder)
• Fluid intelligence - when one solves problems in an innovative way that doesn't rely on prior knowledge of the situation

  Crystallized intelligence - Based on your underlaying knowledge
• Gardner's multiple intelligence model - proposed 8 different forms of intelligence (Lead to the idea of learning styles)
• Theories about intelligence:

  • White matter pathways being well developed may be responsible for high intelligence
  • more folds of the brain correlates with high WAIS scores - birds have no brain folds and yet are capable of complex cognition
  • Brain size relative to body size is a better indication for identifying intelligence than just brain size alone
• Different sex does not change the average scores of intelligence tests

  • Men and women have very slightly different sub scores - Women better at verbal, men better at spacial
  • Men have more variation in test scores withing the same sex
• Concussion - broad scale brain damage

  • diagnosed when there is a disturbance of consciousness

  Treated with Cognitive rest and reducing actives that require concentration and attention

  • 80-90% of symptom go away in the first 7-10 days
• Post concussion syndrome - symptoms that occur after a concussion and last for more than 2 weeks

  • sensitivity to light
  • dizzy spells
  • trouble with concentration
  • emotional regulation problems
• Chronic traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) - caused by repeated sub-concussive impacts

  • similar to dementia
  • often not experienced till retirement|
  • Only discoverable after death (brain needs to be examined)

  Effects:

  • 99% of NFL players
  • 88% of CFL players
  • 29% of high school players
• Genetic contributions to intelligence

  • an increase of genetic relation correlates to in increase of similar intelligence
• Studying genes:

  • Gene knockout study - when the genome of a mouse is manipulated and then that mouse is compared to a genetically normal mouse
  • Transgenic mouse model - when a new genome is added to a mouse and then it is compared to a genetically normal mouse
• Birth order effect - the oldest sibling tens to have a slightly higher IQ

  • often from benefit of teaching (helping to teach things to younger siblings)
• Socioeconomic effects on intelligence

  • wealthy people often have better access to higher and more education opportunities
  • Low income families often experience more stress
  • IQ decreases over the summer periods
  • IQ tests often rely heavily of language skills
• Health and Nutrition on intelligence

  • healthy people attend more school
  • Diet effects IQ even within wealthy homes
• The Flynn effect - the increase of IQ scores over many decades

  • more familiarities with standardized tests
  • societies have improves the environment over time that people are living in
  • there is a demand increase put on information processing
• Nature and Nurture effects intelligence

  • Racial superiority arguments ignore the role of the environment for IQ
  • Minority groups often live in places that prevent them from reaching full genetic potential
  • Test validity - do IQ tests really test what they are meant to be testing?